Joining the global community to commemorate International Women’s Day 2016, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has called for gender equality, especially in the areas of education and employment. Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the Friendraiser Community 2016 International Women’s Day event in Abuja on March 8, 2016, H.E. Mrs. Toyin Saraki, Founder of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) and Wife of Nigeria’s Senate President, stated, “In all sectors, women continue to suffer from gender inequality, which unequivocally hinders advancement. However, girls’ education is a vital tool for both development and empowerment. Globally, 31 million girls of primary school age and 32 million girls of lower secondary school age are out of school, with sub-Saharan Africa suffering the lowest proportion of countries with gender parity in education. It is vital we overcome this gender parity in education because education empowers girls by helping them achieve other basic human rights and breaking generational poverty cycles.”

Annually celebrated on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a day set aside to celebrate the economic, social and political achievements of women, while striving to improve the livelihoods of women all around the world. This year, the IWD global theme is ‘Pledge for Parity,’ a clarion call for equality in all spheres, and for gender-balanced leadership in the workplace. In other events marking the Day, the Foundation actively participated in the launch of the Road to Women’s Business Growth Project, hosted in Lagos by the Cherie Blair Foundation, Exxon Mobil and the Pan-Atlantic University; as well as the Command Performance of Onions Make Us Cry, a play by Zainabu Jallo, which was hosted in Abuja by the Arojah Royal Theatre.

On International Women’s Day 2016, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa reaffirms its commitment to empowering women by continuing to advocate for girl-child education, while making life-saving contributions to improve maternal and child health – in Nigeria and around the world.



Signed: Communications

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa

Email: communications@wellbeingfoundationnig.org
Web: www.wbfafrica.org